Daphne Tan

Biographical Note

Daphne Tan is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at University of Toronto. Prior to joining the Faculty of Music in 2017, she was Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2013–2017) and Visiting Instructor of Music Theory and Aural Skills at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (2012–2013). Her research concerns historical and present-day intersections of music theory, philosophy, and psychology.

Professor Tan’s work on the history of music theory has focused on the music-theoretical ideas of Ernst Kurth, particularly as they relate to Gestalt psychology, listening and embodiment, harmonic dualism, and processual form. She has published articles on Kurth in the Journal of Music Theory and Theoria, and she is undertaking a complete translation and commentary of Kurth’s Musikpsychologie, to be published by Routledge in 2019. Her most recent project is a critical examination of the writings and pedagogical activities of Viktor Zuckerkandl.

Professor Tan is also actively engaged in music perception and cognition research. At Indiana University, she co-founded and co-directed the Music and Mind Lab, having previously worked in labs at the Eastman School of Music and at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (Montreal). She has published co-authored articles in Music Perception and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies on topics related to emotion, diatonic modes, and formal functions.

Professor Tan has presented papers at meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Music Theory Midwest, and the Music Theory Society of New York State. She currently serves as Treasurer of Music Theory Midwest and serves on the editorial boards of SMT-V and Theory and Practice.